Linux - Wireless NetworkingThis forum is for the discussion of wireless networking in Linux.

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For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

Hello! I recently installed slackware 13 on a dell latitude D620, and am having some issues connect to a wireless network with WPA security. The wireless seems to work ok, b/c when connecting to a WEP network it works just fine. Here's what I've tried thus far:
(this is what works for wep)
ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig wlan0 essid MyNetwork key MyKey
dhclient

You have to use wpa_supplicant. Edit your /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file (there's an example that is already mostly filled-in) and fill in your network's ESSID and WPA key, then add a line similar to the one as follows, to /etc/rc.d/rc.local to have it configure your wlan0 interface on boot.

If you haven't already, install wicd, which you'll find in the extra directory of your Slackware installation disk. It is VERY easy to use and manages connections well. It has both GUI and console interfaces that allow you to configure your network settings.

Also, if you want to stick with command line, I've had much better luck with dhcpcd than I ever have with dhclient.

I'm going to have dig out my slack discs then and find that wicd and give that a try...

I did try sudo wpa_supplicant -dd -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
getting the extra debug info...
I keep getting skip - SSID mismatch. That strikes me as odd as I know the ssid I entered is correct (works on the windows, box), and I do know that the ssid is not broadcasted, does that change the game a bit? I would assume no, but then again, I'm just guessing and doing some trial and error here.

Thank you for all the assistance! I finally got it to connect! The issue was the configuration of the wpa_supplicant.conf file. For documentation sake here's how I got it to work for me:
Set up wpa_supplicant.conf to look like this:
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

If you haven't already, install wicd, which you'll find in the extra directory of your Slackware installation disk. It is VERY easy to use and manages connections well. It has both GUI and console interfaces that allow you to configure your network settings.

You will very often find this advice on LQ forum and usually seems to work well for MOST people. I configured something WRONG the first time I ran wicd. Once wicd is installed and run once with a wrong parameter I found it very difficult to get it to edit its original parameters or to relinquish control. I found advice on this forum to remove all instances of wicd and try again.. HOWEVER since I (like many slackware users) am choosing to use slackware to learn the command line control, I took it as an opportunity to greatly improve my understanding of the wireless interface setup. Without relying on a stubborn and persistent GUI interface like wicd.

I have found that AlienBob offers hands down the best nitty-gritty slackware documentation to be found anywhere as well as ALOT of it. I wish i could $$DONATE$$more to his efforts. Most readers of this thread probably should as well.

After several hours I did manage to properly configure my wireless setting using:

One of my biggest stumbling blocks in the process was my critical mis-understanding of these statements from alienbob's dokuwiki:

Quote:

I think there is no good reason to want to keep using rc.wireless.conf. In fact, you can safely delete that entire file! But for those who do not want to say goodbye to it, we will keep support for it in the network configuration scripts.

Quote:

Please use /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf as the single configuration file for all your network parameters (wired as well as wireless)

I read this to mean EVERYTHING required could be done from /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf. I never even bothered to LOOK at rc.wireless.conf or wpa_supplicant.conf. THIS IS A MISTAKE!

Just as dpp777 was able to solve this thread after discovering:

Quote:

The issue was the configuration of the wpa_supplicant.conf file.

I discovered that the ONLY way I could get an IP address for my wireless nic was to edit the rc.wireless.conf file
I changed the

Quote:

*)
INFO="Any ESSID"
ESSID="any"

line to read

Quote:

to read ESSID = ZyXEL_### #the actual name of my dsl modem

Editing this line finally enabled me to connect.

Perhaps if I HAD deleted rc.wireless.conf I would not have to edit. I really don't know. I just know that I clearly misunderstood

Quote:

Please use /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf as the single configuration file for all your network parameters (wired as well as wireless)